FOREIGNERS: TYPES AND CHARACTERISTICS (WITH EXAMPLES) - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

The foreign words are words or linguistic expressions that speakers of a language acquired from other foreign languages and incorporate them into yours. Normally, these words come to fill existing lexical gaps in the language that receives them.

It is rare for a known language that over the years has not acquired some foreign language. In fact, all languages, at some point in their history, have enriched their lexical banks with this or have made their contributions to other languages.

There were moments in history in which the coupling of foreign words in languages ​​was very common and necessary, especially in the different invasions that occurred throughout the war periods throughout the earthly plane.

Taking into consideration the case that directly concerns Spanish speakers, during the expansion of Rome towards the 3rd century BC. Latin influenced a large number of languages ​​in the Mediterranean, even giving way to the birth of other languages. Among those born languages ​​we have Spanish.

Foreign words in Spanish

After planting the foundations of its conception around 218 BC. C. -just after the Romans prevailed in the Iberian Peninsula against Aníbal- until its consolidation as a language with the publication of the Cantar del Mío Cid, Spanish has had intense periods of capturing foreign language.

With the Arab expansion - its arrival and dominance in Hispania from the 8th to the 15th century - more than 4 thousand Arabic words were incorporated into Spanish. For its part, being a commercial and scientific language, Spanish took for itself almost 2,000 Greek words.

During the Renaissance, the great growth of the Italic arts gave rise to the Spanish assuming Italian words.

However, Spanish has also made its contributions to other languages, only that there have been times when they have been more abundant than in others. For example, during the Golden Age of Spanish letters, thanks to the literary boom given by Cervantes and Lope de Vega, a large number of languages ​​took words from Spanish.

Currently, because it is considered one of the most important languages ​​for establishing business, English is one of the languages ​​from which the most words have been taken to incorporate into foreign languages. The Spanish has not escaped from this phenomenon. The internet has become the perfect catalyst for that to happen.

Types and their characteristics, with examples

We have two types of classification: according to their origin, taking into account the language from which the foreigner comes; and according to its form, that is, the conditions under which a foreign word is incorporated into a language.

Classification according to its origin

The most common cases will be mentioned, but there are many more and each month they continue to be incorporated into our language.

Anglicisms

It refers to words from English.

Examples

- Backstage: means "behind the scenes", refers to being behind the scenes on stage.

- Chat: it means “to maintain a written communication using an electronic device”.

- Internet: means "global decentralized computer network".

- Software: means "program that allows the logical operation of the parts of a computer".

Gallicisms

It refers to the words from French.

Examples

- Boutique: means "accessories store, exclusive garments".

- Poster: means "sheet of varied size, illustrated with an art to convey a message about an event or information."

- Bra: means "female garment to hold and cover the breasts."

- Boulevard: means "wide street, ornamented with benches and trees."

Lusitanisms

It refers to words from Portuguese.

Examples

- Diver: means "person who practices immersion in water".

- Clam: it means "bivalve of the waters, mollusk".

- Cliff: means "place close to the seashore, rocky, with high height".

- Volcano: means "mountain or mountain that can emit lava when it erupts."

Dutchisms

It refers to the words coming from the Dutch.

Examples

- Arcabuz: means "rifle, ancient firearm activated with gunpowder."

- Babor: means "right side of a ship".

- Cod: means "open water fish whose meat and fat are highly valued".

- Sloop: means "small barge with a single mast and deck".

Hellenisms

It refers to the words from the Greek.

Examples

- Philanthropist: means "altruistic person, who feels pleasure in doing good to his peers."

- Acrophobia: means "to be afraid of high places, to be in the heights".

- Hemorrhage: it means “continuous loss of blood from an internal or external wound”.

- Hippodrome: means "place of attendance for horse racing".

Arabisms

It refers to the words from Arabic.

An interesting note is that a large number of Arabicisms in Spanish can be recognized by the prefix “al”, which corresponds to the definite article “el”. Some examples are: apricot, bricklayer and hubbub.

Examples

- Gossip: it means "bringing information of doubtful origin to others."

- Blue: means "primary color".

- Pillow: means "object used to lay the head down and rest".

- Almanac: it means "circle of the days, a tool that allows you to be aware of the days and dates".

Italianisms

It refers to words from Italian.

Examples

- Attack: means "to go against something or someone in an offensive way".

- Trinket: it means "something useless, of little value".

- Birra: means "beer, alcoholic drink".

- Escrachar: means "to subject someone to derision, to expose him".

Germanisms

It refers to words from German.

Examples

- Mustache: means “male facial hair”.

- Pride: it means "attitude of being rightly or superior to a subject".

- Skirt: means “female garment”.

- Towel: means "personal hygiene utensil to dry off after bathing."

Cultisms

It refers to the words from Latin.

Here it is worth noting that this refers to the terms that, without having undergone changes in form, are currently used in Spanish. Remember that Spanish comes from Latin.

Examples

- Vox populi: it means “voice of the people”, which is said in front of everyone or which is public knowledge. It has several meanings depending on the population.

- Cum laude: means "with praise", used as an honorable mention to denote that someone passed the university with excellent grades.

- Modus operandi: means "mode of operation", it refers to the way of having perpetrated an act, the way of having acted.

- On site: means “on site”, carried out on site.

Classification according to its shape

For this classification three aspects are considered:

Lexical loan

It occurs when the foreign word is received in a language by adapting its pronunciation and, in the vast majority of cases, also its spelling.

Examples

- «Goal» instead of «goal»: Anglicism that means "annotation" in football, a word that is also a lexical loan appropriate to the spelling and morphology of Spanish.

- «Park» instead of «parking»: Anglicism that means “to park a car”, adapted to the spelling and morphology of Spanish.

Semantic loan

It occurs when a word is present in two languages, but in each one it has different meanings. So, the speakers of the language they are copying take the foreign meaning and coin it to the word that requires it in their language.

Example

- "Mouse" and "mouse": a clear example occurred with the technological advances of the last era. Computers have a device that allows them to be located on the computer screen. They called this device in English a mouse, which is translated as "mouse."

At the time of inventing this computational element, the word "mouse" in English acquired another meaning: "apparatus used to locate objects on the computer monitor and interact with them."

Since there was no word in Spanish to designate the computational mouse, the speakers simply borrowed the meaning from English and assigned it to the word "mouse." Since then, in Spanish, "mouse" means "rodent" and "computer utensil."

Semantic tracing

It occurs when a word is copied from another language, translated, and used naturally by the speakers of the receiving language. This is considered barbarism, a misuse and ignorance of language, since it occurs when there are terms that could be used.

Example

- «Watchman» and «guachiman»: watchman is an Anglicism that means “vigilant”. Speakers of the Spanish language in various of their dialects traced the word and its meaning, using it naturally.

The big drawback appears when we see that it was not necessary for them to do so; that's what the words "watchdog", "caretaker" or "caretaker" are for. So, in people who do this, a lack of knowledge of language can be seen, which impoverishes and belittles it.

Lexical need

When they began to venture into the different languages, the foreign words occurred due to a lexical necessity, there were no terms in the receiving languages ​​that allowed their speakers to express certain ideas. Back then, foreign words came to enrich languages.

This phenomenon will never stop occurring on the planet, since communication is everything for man. Ideally, it should occur due to a real need and not due to ignorance of the language. When it happens because of the bad handling of the language, instead of getting rich, you are getting poorer.

Linguists are those who have managed to structure and organize the language to guarantee its teaching and learning and to ensure effective communication.

It is important to be clear that, if a lexical loan is to be taken, if it maintains its original spelling and has not been accepted by the RAE (Royal Academy of the Spanish Language), it must be written in italics or in quotation marks. Cultisms do not escape this rule.

References

1. Treatment of foreign words. (S. f.). Spain: Royal Spanish Academy. Recovered from: rae.es.
2. Cáceres Ramírez, O. (2015). Foreign words in Spanish. Concept and examples. (n / a): About Español. Recovered from: aboutespanol.com.
3. Usunáriz Iribertegui, M. (2015). Foreigners. Spain: The Country. Recovered from:

   elpais.com.

4. 4. Linares Angulo, J. (2009). Foreign words in the Spanish language. Venezuela: Fundeu. Recovered from: fundeu.es.
5. Experts defend the correct use of Spanish without foreign language abuse. (2017). Spain. The vanguard. Recovered from:vanaguardia.com.